How to Make Wine by the Bottle

Homemade wine made simple

Impress your friends at your next dinner party by serving them a glass of your homemade wine. What's even better is that you can make wine yourself using common household items and ingredients. Making wine is simple, and it can be made and stored in a gallon milk jug container for the cost of less than an average bottle of wine from a liquor store.

Things You'll Need

• Milk jug
• Funnel
• Grape juice
• Sugar
• Yeast
• Balloon

Instructions

1. Place a funnel on top of the milk jug and pour 3 containers of frozen grape juice concentrate into the milk jug. Add 6 juice cans water to the jug, tighten the cap and shake the bottle to properly mix the juice and water. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the mixture and shake the milk bottle again.

2. Hydrate the yeast. Pour a package of active-dry yeast or wine making yeast into a cup of water and let it sit until it begins to foam. Once it starts to hydrate, add 2 spoonful's of sugar to it. When the foam is at least 1 inch thick, add the yeast mixture to the milk jug.

3. Poke at least a half dozen holes in a deflated balloon. Use a sewing pin or safety pin to do this. Once you've poked the holes, place the balloon opening over the top of the milk jug. When it's around the opening, push the balloon down into the jug.

4. Put the milk jug full of your wine mixture in a warm place and let it sit for several weeks. When the balloon begins to inflate, you'll know the yeast is working properly. The fermentation process will take up to 3 weeks to complete.

5. Move the wine to a cool storage place once fermentation is completed. While you could drink the wine now, allowing it to sit for up to a month or two in a cool place, like a refrigerator, will help improve the wine's flavor.

6. Improve the wine flavor even further by pouring it into a new container. A clean milk jug will work well, but be sure to leave the sediment at the bottom of the original milk jug. You can place cheesecloth or a strainer over the milk jug's opening when pouring it to ensure that the sediment stays put.